In the hay and forage industry, a cutting or mowing device is used to cut crop. Once the crop is mowed, the crop is allowed to dry before it is baled or otherwise collected. In this industry, it is desirable to reduce an amount of time it takes for hay or other crop to dry down, i.e., to dry or reduce moisture from the plant or crop. A faster dry down time can result in less time between cutting and baling the crop, which can minimize risk to the crop while sitting in the field.
One example of reducing dry down time is to spread the crop as wide as possible to maximize the exposure of the crop to the sun, wind, and surrounding environment. In doing so, moisture from the crop can evaporate quicker. A limitation to this approach, however, occurs when using a pull behind mowing assembly (e.g., a mower conditioner, a disc mower, etc.) to cut the crop. This is particularly true if the windrow or swath of cut crop is too wide such that during a subsequent pass a tractor wheel runs over a portion of the crop. If the crop is run over by the wheel, the crop can be packed down and thus its dry down time can be much longer.